Manure-conveyer



H. F. HENSEL AND. W. J. STAKE.

MANURE CONVEYER. APPLICATION men 050.12, 1918.

1,342,217. Patented June 1,1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I. 70

H. F. HENSEL AND w. J. STAKE.

MANURE CONVEYE-R.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-12. 1918.

Patented June 1, 1920'.

azsnvi-e mantel/S ile/2 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1' H. F. HENSEL AND W. J. STAKE.

MANURE CONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 12, [918.

Patented June 1, 1920.

4. SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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HENRY r. nnivsnn, or NEW LONDON, AND WALTER J.

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STAKE, OF SUGAR BUSH,

MANURE-OONVEYER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patent d J 1 1920 Applicationfiled December 12, 1918. Serial No; 266,380.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, and WALTER J. STAKE, citizens of the United States, residing at New London and Sugar Bush, in the counties of lVaupaca and Qutagamie, respectively. in the State of Nlsconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Manure Conveyers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention comprehends gen erally improvements in conveying apparatus and more particularly relates to a manure carrier or conveyer.

It is the primary aim and object ofthis invention to provide an apparatus of the above mentioned character designed for removing manure or other material from a gutter thereby loading itself while moving through the gutter, elevating and carrying the material when loaded and finally dumping the material in a receiver positioned desirably at the end of the gutter.

It is an additional and equally important object of this invention to provide an apparatus of the character mentioned wherein cooperative means 'ismounted on the carrier frame and on the elevated track for releasing the movable bottom of the scoop to insure of the automatic dumping ofthe material therefrom at a predetermined time whileacting in conjunction therewith is ad ditional means operably associated with the carrier frame, the track and the propelling means for arranging the latter in a neutral position simultaneously with the dumping action. a

The invention also embraces the provision of an apparatus of the above mentioned character wherein manually operable clutch means is employed for winding the flexible connection between the scoop and the car rier proper to insure of the raising of the scoop while acting in con u nct1on therewith is resiliently and manually controlled clutch or retaining means for releasably retaining the scoop in a raised position.

More particularly the present invention contemplates the provision of an apparatus of the above mentioned character embodying generally a self-propelled carrier frame from which is flexibly suspended ascoop, thetrack for the frame being arranged over the gutter to insure of the scoop operating in the gutter during the operation of the carrier, while the obstacles on the track are posi- HENRY F. HnNsnL' tioned to successively move the transmission mechanism from a forward position to a neutral position, at the time the carrier is arranged over the manure or material re ceiver, and then into a reverse position to in consequence insure of the return of the carrier to a point near its original position and from where it is capable of being adjusted so as to again move forwardly through the gutter. c

It is-a more specific object ofthis invention to provide a scoop of novel construction; and to also provide improvedmeans for releasably retaining the bottom of the scoop in a closed position.

The improvements in the details and arrangement of parts will be apparent from an inspection of the accompanying drawings in connection with the specific description hereinafter contained, and wherein the pre ferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed for the purpose of imparting a full understanding of the invention.

The invention is clearly illustrated, in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved apparatus, the transmission mechanism being arranged in a forward propelling position whilethe scoop is arranged in the gutter so as 'tobe loaded during the forward movement,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational detail of the carrier with the transmission mechanism shown in neutral position,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational detail of the carrier and scoop, the scoop being in a raised position with its bottom in a dumping position,

Fig. r is an enlarged transverse sectional detail through the scoop,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal sectional detail taken on line 55 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional detail taken on lineS-G of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 7-7 of Fig. 2.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the above described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now, more particularly, to the accompanyingv drawings, there is provided an elevated track 1 suspended by hangers 2 while operating on the track is the selfpropelled carrier indicated generally by the numeral 3 and this carrier has flexibly .sus-

V pended therefrom as by cables 4, a dumping scoop generally designated by the numeral 5 which is designed to operate in a gutter 6 positioned beneath the track 1 and adapted to contain manure or other material and this manure is removed from and elevated and carried by the scoop and carrier and subsequently dumped in a receiver (not shown) in .a manner that will become apparent.

In the present instance, the improved carrier 3 may be said to consist of a substantially rectangular supporting frame 7, the upper part of which is bifurcated so that it may be arranged about the track 1 to passby the hangers 2, spaced caster wheels 8 being mounted in the top and near the forward end while stub-axles 9 are arranged through the opposing and spaced portions of the top bar of the frame and have mounted on their inner and adjacent ends rear supporting wheels or rollers 10 which engage the upper surface of the track 1 and coact with the wheels or rollers 8 in mounting the carrier.

In order to propel the carrier 3 on the track 1, suitable propelling means has been employed, in the present instance consisting of an engine 11 mounted on the platform 12 in the frame 7 beneath the track while mounted on the crank shaft 13 of the engine 11 is a gear 14. A lever 15 is now employed and is forked to provide angularly disposed arms 16, the lever being swingably or loosely mounted about the crank shaft 13 at its point of juncture with the arms 16. Other gears 17 and 18 are rotatably mount ed at the ends of the arms 16 and mesh at all times with the intermediate gear 14 on the crank shaft 13. These gears 17 and 18 are designed to be arranged in mesh with a large motion transmitting gear 19 so that motion may be imparted to the rotatably mounted shaft 20 which supports the gear 19. A worm gear 21 is mounted on the shaft20 and meshing with the end portions of this worm 21 are worm wheels 22 carried in turn by the opposed angularly dis posed and rotatably mounted shafts 23 on the frame 7. Beveled pinions 24 are carried by the upper ends of the shafts 23 and mesh with beveled gears 25 carried in turn by the stub-axles 9 to in consequence insure of the rotation of the propelling wheels or rollers 10.

To adjust the transmission mechanism a vertically movable rod 26 is employed and is slidable through a bracket 27 on the frame 7, the lower end of the rod being pivotally connected at 28 to the adjacent end of the lever 15 while the upper end is bifurcated and has a roller 29 rotatably mounted therein and engageable with the under surface of the track 1 for arpurpose which will presently appear. A horizontally disposed manually operable actuating lever 30 is p'iw in an opposite direction the lower gear 18 will be arranged in mesh with the large gear 19 to insure of the reversing of the carriage 3 on the track 1, as is apparent.

It is of course to be understood that there is an interposed wheel 14 and gear wheel 18, so as to effect a reverse movement of the gear 19 when said gear 18 meshes therewith.

As intimated, the scoop 5 is of improved construction, and in reducing this construction to practice, the same may be said to consist of a substantially rectangular frame 33 while swingably connected to the rear edge is the dumping bottom 35. Supporting standards 36 are connected to the front bar 34 and to the rear bar of the frame while their rigidity is increased with respect to each other by means of the spaced longitudinally extending brace bars 37. The upper projecting ends of the standards are formed with notches 38 for a purpose that will presently appear, while the upper portions are also bifurcated as shown at 39. A bell crank lever 40 is swingably mounted at a point near its point of distortion to one of bifurcated portions of the front standard 36 by means of a pin 41, while the lower end of the vertically disposed portion is formed with a catch 42 designed to removably engage an eye 43 on the bottom of the scoop so as to hold the bottom in a closed position against the frame 33 to insure of effective scooping action when the apparatus or device is being used. Coacting with this catch is a segmental rack 44 on the rear edge of the frame and engageable by a vertically movable pawl 45, the lower portion being slidable through a bracket 46 on the frame 33 while the upper portion is swingably connected as at 47 to the outer end of a lever 48. This lever is swingably mounted as at 49 to one of the bifurcated portions of the rear standard 36 and is operably connected at its inner end to the adjacent end of the horizontal portion of the bell crank lever by means of a pin 50 which also has arranged thereabout a contacting disk 51, for a purpose that will presently appear. To facilitate the placing of the bottom in a closed position, a lever 52 is swingably connected to the rack 44 on the flange portion of the bottom 35 while a manually operable pawl 53 is mounted on the lever and is degear a between the. gear.

signed to engage the teeth of the rackdl: to hold the lever rigid with respect to the rack so that the scoop may be arranged in a closed position. The chief purpose of this adjustable lever 52 is for the convenienceof the operator in arranging the lever 52 at the desired'angular adjustment relative to the segmental rack 44. h

In operably connecting the flexible elements or cables 4: to the scoop 5 and carriage 3 respectively, the lower ends of the cables carry attaching members 52 which are swingably arranged about transversely extending rods'53 mounted in turn in the sides of the frame 33 of the scoop while the oppo-- site or upper ends of the cables are connected to and windable about drums 54 carried by a transverse shaft 55 which is j ournaled in the sides of the frame 7 beneath the platform 12. To facilitate the arrangement of the upper proj ecting portions of the standards 36 of the scoop in the hollow lower portion of the sides of the frame 7, idlers 56 are mounted between the brace bars 37 between which the cables are arranged and the drum.

In effecting the winding of the cables to consequently raise the scoop, a stub-shaft 59 is journaled in a bearing standard 60 on the platform 12 and has a beveled gear 61 mounted on one end and meshing with another beveled gear 62 on the shaft 20 while a sprocket wheel 63 is mounted on the opposite end of the shaft 59 and has trained thereabout a chain 6 1 which also operates about another sprocket wheel 65 on the transverse shaft 55. This sprocket wheel 65 is preferably loose on the shaft and is provided with a clutch face 66 while coacting therewith is a movable clutch member 67 slidably and non-rotatably mounted on the shaft 55. A manually operable bell crank lever 68 is pivotally mounted at the point of distortion on the side of the platform 12 and has its inner portion forked as at 69 and arranged in the peripheral groove on the movable clutch member 67 and by this arrangement when the, lever 68 is swung downwardly, the clutch member 67 will be slid into engagement with the clutch 66 on the loose sprocket wheel 65 to rigidly connect the same with the shaft 55 to ultimately insure of the rotation of the drums and the raising of the scoop 5.

(loacting with the notches 38 on the standards 36 is the improved meansfor releasably maintaining the scoop in a' raised position. In reducing this feature of the invention to practice, angle shaped catches 70 are pivotally mounted between ears 71 on the hollow portion of the sides of the frame, the inner catch portions of the catches being arranged through openings or slots in the adjacent faces of the hollow portions of the sides of the frame to engage the notches 38 to maintain the standards in the position shown inFig. 3. The outer portions of the catches 70 are pivotally engaged with an operating rod or handle 72 while suitable resilient means such as a coiled contractile spring 73 is employed and has its respective ends secured to the forward side of the frame 7 and to a clamp 74 engaged on the rod or handle 72, the spring being tensioned to normally maintain the catches within the hollow portion so that they will automatically engage the notches when the standards are moved within the hollow portions of the frame at the time they are elevated or raised.

Formed on and depending from the under surface of the track 1 preferably at points over the manure or material receiver (not shown) are trip blocks 75 and 7 6, the latter being arranged in advance of the former so as to coact with the roller 29 on the rod 26 just before the dumping action hereinafter described, occurs so as to move the transmission mechanism from a forward position to a neutral position such as shown in Fig. 2.

Coacting with the trip block 75 is the improved dumping means which is designed to co5perate with the contact roller 61 on the scoop and which in the present instance may be said'to consist of a vertically movable rod 77 slidably mounted in brackets 78 on the forward side bar of the frame 7. A roller 7 9is operably mounted on the upper end of this rod 77 while the latter is maintained yieldingly in a raised position by suitable resilient means such as a coiled eX- pansion spring 80, one end of which is connected to the rod while the other end bears against the adjacent bracket 78. A bell crank lever 81 is pivotally mounted on the forward side bar of the frame 7 and is operably connectedas at 82 with the lower end of the vertically movable rod 77. A connecting rod 83 has one end operably connected to the bell crank lever 81- and the i bars 88 are enlarged and bifurcated and v have received. therebetween a contacting roller 92 maintained in position by the eonnecting pm 93 wh1le also operably arranged about this pin is the lower end of a con v necting link 94 pivotally suspended at its upperend from the bell crank lever 84. The bars 88 serve as a means for supporting and guiding the contacting roller or member 92 and maintain it in position above the contacting member or roller 51 so that when the parts are'i'n the position shownin Fig. 2, as soon as the member or roller 79 engages the trip block 75 the rod 77 will be depressed to swing the bell crank lever 81 which moves the connecting rod 83 as well as the bell crank lever 84 to ultimately depress the link9t and the member 92, the bars 88 of course sliding and swinging about their pivots so that the member or roller 92 will Contact with the roller 51. As a result of this contacting, the bell crank lever 40 on the scoop will be swung so as to release the catch 12 from the eye 4.3 and simultaneously with this movement the lever 48 will be depressed so as to raise the pawl 45 from engagement with the segmental rack on the flange portion of the bottom 35, releasing the bottom so that it will assume the position shown in Fig. 3

' and dump the contents preferably in a re ceiver (not shown) positioned beneath the trip block '75.

Cooperating with the trip block 76 is the retaining member 95 mounted on the platform 12. This member is preferably in a U-shaped form and is provided with rack facesonthe inner surface of its opposed arms as shown at 96 while between these rack faces is arranged the lever 15, the latter being engaged by the rack faces so as to be held in the different positions of adjustment, as is apparent. 1 The mode of operation of the present invention may be reviewed as follows: 7 7

Assuming that the parts have been assembled in the manner described and shown in the drawings, when the scoop 5 is in the gutter 6 the lever 30 is adjusted so that the lever 15 will be in a forward position while the roller 29 will be engaged with the under surface of the track and the gear 17 will be arranged in mesh with the gear 19 so that motion will be transmitted'to the shaft 20 and from the shaft 20 by means of the shafts 23 which are geared therewith to the rear drive wheels 10 so as to in sure of the forward movement of the carrier 3 and drag or draw the scoop 5 through V the gutter to remove the material therefrom and as a result, fill or load the scoop. When the scoop is loaded, the lever 68 is adjusted to throw the clutch 67 into operative position causing a rotation of the shaft 55 and the winding of the cables 4 thereabout to ultimately raise the scoop, 'during which action the upper projecting portions of the standards 36 pass into the hollow lower portions of the sides, of the frame of the carrier and are automatically engaged by the catches 70 and held in a raised orelevated position thereby. The carrier continues its forward movement 11111311 the same 1s arranged over the receiver for the vmanure or material (not. shown) at which time the roller29 strikes the block 76 to vmove the transmission mechanism into neutral posi;

tion as shown in Fig. 2. Almost immediately thereafter, the roller 79 strikes the trip block to actuate the dumping mechanism to consequently release the movable bottom 35 of the chute so that the material will be deposited in the receiver. During this action, owing to the momentum of the carrier, the roller 29 will strike the block 7 5 to push the rod 26 down a farther extent and arrange the transmission mechanism in a reverse position, that is, the gear 18 will engage the gear 19 and in this manner cause an automatic reversing of the to release the scoop, or preferably, if de-,

sired, the clutch 67 may be thrown into operative position while the transmission mechanism is operating in reverse to automatically lower the scoop. When the scoop is in a lower position and all of the parts occupy the .first position mentioned, the lever 30 may be adjusted to forward position so that the device will effectually operate. V It is believed in view of the foregoingrdescription that a further detailed description of the operation of the invention is entirely unnecessary. Likewise, it is believed that the advantagesof the device will be readily apparent.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope, thereof, it being intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings scribed, in combination, a track, a carrier thereon, means for driving the carrier, a transmission mechanism for controlling the movement of the carr1er, a scoop having a movable bottom, means for suspending the scoop from the carrier, clutch controlled means between the transmission means and the suspending means for elevating the scoop, means for releasably retaining the scoop when in an elevated position in connection with the carrier, a trip block on the track, and means associated with the carrier and the scoop for dumping the bottom of the scoop at the time said means engages the trip block.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a track, a carrier operating thereon, means for driving the carrier, transmission mechanism for controlling the movement of the carrier, manually operable means for adjusting the transmission mechanism; a scoop having a dumping bottom, means for releasably holding the bottom of the scoop in a closed position, flexible means for suspending the scoop from the carrier, clutch control means between the transmission mechanism and the flexible means for elevating the scoop, means for releasably retaining the scoop when in an elevated position in connection with the carrier, a trip block on the track and engageable by the transmission mechanism for successively arranging said mechanism in neutral and reverse positions, and means associated with the carrier and the retaining means for the bottom of the scoop and engageable with one of the trip blocks for dumping the scoop at the time the transmission mechanism is moved to a neutral position by the block.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, an elevated track, a carrier, rollers mounted .in the carrier and operating on the track, a prime mover for the carrier transmission mechanism for controllingthe movement of the carrier, a scoop having a movable bottom, means for releasably holding the bottom of the scoop closed, a rotatable shaft in the carrier, drums on the shaft, cables connected to and windable about the drums and also connected to the scoop for suspending the scoop from the carrier, clutch controlled means between the transmission mechanism and the shaft for raising the carrier, manually operable resiliently controlled means for engaging and retaining the scoop in connection with the carrier when raised, trip blocks on the track and engageable by the transmission mechanism to successively place the mechanism in neutral and reverse positions, and means on the carrier and engageable with onev of the trip blocks for releasing the bottom of the scoop at the time the transmission mechanism is in neutral'position.

4. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, an elevatedtrack,

' trip blocks on the track, a carrier operating on the track, propelling means for the carrier, transmission mechanism associated with the propelling means for controlling the movement of the carrier, a scoop having a dumping bottom, means to releasably retain the bottom of the scoop closed, means for suspending the scoop from the carrier, means for raising the scoop, means for releasably holding the scoop when raised in connection with the carrier, releasing means on the carrier for coacting with the retaining means for the bottom of the scoop, and.

a yieldingly mounted member on the carrier and engageable with one of the trip blocks and operably connected with the releasing means for actuating the releasing means to produce a dumping action.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, an elevated track, a carrier, rollers forked portion of the lever and engageable with the gear on the crank shaft, a gear on the driven shaft, a manually operable lever on the carrier and connected with the forked lever for moving the gears on the lever into and out of engagement with-the gear on the driven shaft to consequently control the movement of the carrier, and means for holding the forked lever in an adjusted position.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a self-propelled carrier including a frame, the lower portions of the sides of which are hollow, a scoop suspended from the carrier, notched standards rising from the scoop, means for raising the scoop so that the standards will be arranged within the hollow portions of the sides of the frame, resiliently controlled catches for automatically engaging the notches in the standards to hold the scoop in a raised position, and means for releasing the catches.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures hereto.

HENRY F. HENSEL. WALTER J. STAKE. 

